Lynchburg, Va. -- It was déjà vu all over again.

The No.18-ranked University of Lynchburg field hockey team advanced to the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament championship with a 3-0 win over Roanoke College Friday night.

With the win, top-seeded Lynchburg set up a rematch of the 2018 ODAC final with Shenandoah, who defeated Washington and Lee in the late semifinal. Both semifinals pitted the same teams as a season ago with the same outcomes. The host Hornets will now look to repeat as conference champs and lock up the automatic NCAA Division III tournament berth that comes with it Saturday at 6 p.m. on Shellenberger Field.

The Hornets (17-3) got off to a fast start Friday as junior Maggie Chiappazzi scored in the sixth minute on an unassisted goal, chasing down a loose ball deflected off the right post of the cage to put Lynchburg up 1-0. 

In the begining of the second quarter, junior Jackie Lerro beat the entire Roanoke defense down field and scored her 19th goal of the season to extend the Hornets' lead to 2-0. In the third, after several Lynchburg shots on goal, Chiappazzi connected for her second goal of the game to put the seal on the win.

Junior Laurel Nicks made six saves and recorded her fifth shutout of the season. It was also Lynchburg's seventh shutout of the 2019 campaign.

Roanoke finished the season with a 12-8 mark.

The Hornets advance to the ODAC championship for the third year in a row and look to win their 20th, the most of any member school.

--LYN--